Development as driver or brake of morphological diversity?

TheUnderstanding the relationships between the evolution of species and their development is of long-standing interest to many biologists as developmental processes are considered to be important drivers of organismal diversity. In this seminar I will present two case studies demonstrating the impact of development on the pattern of morphological evolution in vertebrates: 1) How did differences in reproductive strategy in species with simple life cycles, such as mammals, influence their morphological evolution? 2) What is the role of life cycle complexity in morphological and functional diversification using Urodela as a model system? I will show that the developmental timing and complexity strongly impacted the morphological and functional diversity of the head system in both examples.